I was a charlatan in India

The private soldiers on the stage held up a roll of cloth and loudly explained how to play football.

"The rules of football are as follows: each side fields eleven players."

"Ten of them were responsible for snatching durians, kicking them into the other side's wall just like I did."

"One person is responsible for goalkeeping, which means positioning the goalkeeper to prevent goals from being scored."

As he spoke, another private soldier waved at the durian, which then "banged" out of the wall and landed steadily in his hand.

The crowd once again marveled at the performance.

"Those who kick the ball must not touch the durian with their hands, but the goalkeeper may."

"The most important thing is!"

The private soldier paused, looked around to make sure everyone's eyes were on him, and then presented the tempting offer.

"The winning team in the game can, like us, guide their brothers and sisters in their arduous practice, ensuring they will never suffer hardship again and will have no worries about food and clothing in this life!"

May I never suffer again in this life!

No worries about food and clothing!

The gazes of the crowd burned brightly once more.

Damn it, we've suffered for so long, and now that we have a chance to enjoy life, why are we quitting?

I'm not stupid, how could I possibly give up!

You earn a lot in fifteen days, but what if you spend it all? Go back to playing durian kicking?

Of course, it's about gambling for a better future!

The Dalits looked around.

Damn it, the only people around here are lowly commoners like myself and a bunch of Shudras who only know how to work and freeload.

This durian-kicking game is nothing more than a contest of who's toughest!

In terms of ruthlessness, can they possibly compare to us hard-working guys?

The Shudras also looked down on them.

Hmph, a bunch of beggars who can't even make ends meet, how could they compare to us proper craftsmen?

You've all ended up at the bottom because you're lazy and useless!

Why are you looking at us like that?

You disagree?

Let's fight!

A pattern of mutual harm at the grassroots level is beginning to take shape.

Only three bald monks stood out from the crowd.

"Or...should we call our senior brother back?"

This is a chance to climb to the top, and with our own people working together, the odds of success are obviously much higher.

Our opponents are just lowly commoners whom we bully at will. If we, the disciples of Buddhism, join forces, victory will be within our grasp.

More importantly, they really didn't want to communicate with this group of guys who didn't look very smart!

The high monks looked at each other and nodded slightly.

It's settled then!

Thinking back carefully, since entering the Buddhist order, he has been scheming and struggling every step of the way, only to earn the title of a high monk.

However, the bond between the fellow disciples grew more distant day by day.

Even if they appear amicable on the surface, they are secretly calculating how to divide the profits from the offerings.

Now this opportunity...

Senior brother!

Junior brother!

Let's fight side by side once again!

A strong fighting spirit surged from the three high monks, and even the private soldiers who announced the rules turned their heads slightly.

What are these three monks getting so excited about? Do they want to join in the fun too?

Speaking of which, if they were to participate, should they use a merit ball or a durian?

If it's a merit ball... I'm afraid others might not dare to kick it.

But using durian doesn't feel quite right either, it's like the heavens are excluding someone.

Never mind, I'll ask my superiors later.

Of course, not everyone wants to participate; quite a few are planning to withdraw after fifteen days.

Kicking durians is fucking painful.

Just take the money and leave, sigh.

It seems I'm just suited to a life of hardship; being a superior person isn't easy.

They couldn't understand for the time being that the superior people didn't kick durians.

I just feel that it must have been tough for the other person to be in that high position.

Forget it, this wealth and status are not for me.

There have always been people who don't eat flatbread.

As for how to deal with them... that has long been figured out by the managers.

Right now, they are still convinced that they can escape this arduous factory in fifteen days.

Besides, there was another pair of eyes silently watching this place.

That's Anshu, the curly-haired chubby boy from the Sharma family.

Surrey hadn't contacted him for several days.

Even with the full moon festival approaching, this is still very unusual.

A little inquiry revealed that Suriya had recently forcibly bought several plots of land.

That's not surprising.

He always wanted to accomplish something, to prove to his father, who was clearly protecting him, that he was great and should return to the capital.

What's unusual is that Surrey actually paid!

He knew his friend all too well.

In Surya's view, allowing you to make money on my turf is already a great favor.

You can't just turn around and make money off me!

There was a time when Surya stole someone's things, enjoyed them, and then sent someone to give them a reward.

Sometimes, the reward is even higher than the price of goods.

But that's not buying and selling; it's a completely different matter.

More often than not, they take someone's things, are dissatisfied with them, and then send someone to beat the other party up!

"You unscrupulous merchants! Making money on my turf, and you don't even know how to ensure product quality?"

"If an outsider buys it, wouldn't that be a disgrace to me!"

"He deserves to be hit!"

...His logic was that simple and brutal; Surrey called it fair reward and punishment.

Anshu was stunned when she saw what the factory had done.

Could it be that this young master doesn't realize he has no talent for business and is instead relying on gods and miracles?

Don't even mention it, with all the trouble Surie caused in the capital, going back... might really only be a matter of luck.

It's really thanks to that old man that he was able to save him.

The capital city is unlike Varanasi, where almost everyone is related to the powerful Kshatriyas.

He's probably killing off a few girls over there, tsk tsk...

Sending him here is clearly a form of protection.

After all, in Varanasi, as long as Suriya doesn't rebel, it's not a problem no matter how outrageous he goes.

But suddenly forming a religious order is indeed very strange.

Speaking of which, quite a few major religious events have happened in the city recently, including rumors about a sacred fetus, which are truly appalling...

There's no guarantee that someone with ulterior motives won't appear and use these things to deceive Surya and manipulate his power.

This guy doesn't have many good points. Besides being loyal to his friends, his only redeeming quality is that he listens to advice.

He listens to advice too much!

Once they've decided someone is one of their own, they'll listen to anything and then act on it.

Forget about pros and cons, right and wrong, cause and effect, stop talking nonsense to the young master!

I, Surya, consider you my friend!

An Shu even suspected that the trouble this guy caused in the capital was inseparable from those cronies!

Who knows which of his drunken words might be taken as advice and adopted by him!

Asking Surie directly would be pointless; if he could hide it from me once, he could hide it from me many more times.

Even if you get just a few words, it's better to investigate yourself.

Fortunately, he and Surrey did not break off their relationship, and there was no trace of any animosity between them.

The young master's close friend was an honored guest, and the private soldiers all knew him, so they did not stop him from coming.

They assumed An Shu was sent by the young master to investigate, and thus worked even harder.

The more An Shu observed, the more alarmed she became.

Putting everything else aside, the procedures for recruiting, training, and retaining employees are something that Surrey could never have come up with.

An Shu is quite intelligent; the more she thought about this process, the more she realized how intricate it was.

As for his brutes, they were even more unruly than their master and would never have come up with such a process.

However, Anshu was unable to find the source of the order or even the channel through which it was disseminated.

After all, Shenhe's voice rang directly in the believer's mind, so it's normal that he couldn't understand it.

In addition, An Shu had never seen the merit ball kicked by those monks before.

This completely unfamiliar plant could only have come from a very distant place; otherwise, he should have at least heard of it.

In other words, it is very likely that an outside force has appeared around Surya.

Damn it, could they be trying to trick him into rebelling?

After all, it's much easier to storm the capital than to return to it.

Given Surrey's recklessness, he might actually believe it!

And that durian from earlier...

Anshu could not understand its trajectory.

He mimicked the soldier's gestures, but the durian didn't react at all.

Could this be some kind of power that can only be manipulated through worship?

Looking at the hole carved into the wall by durian, An Shu hesitated somewhat.